Time management: Are you a time saver or a time spender?

Time management: Are you a time saver or a time spender?

We each have 24 hours in our day, so why is it that some people breeze seamlessly through their tasks and others struggle with time?

Firstly, in order to make positive time management changes it’s important to develop the mindset that your time is valuable. In other words, recognizing the importance of what you do and deciding what deserves your energy. The essence of working effectively is firstly knowing what to do, and secondly just doing it.

Trivial intrusions
While these may appear to be very simple steps at first glance, with so many distractions and interruptions in the workplace it’s easy to lose focus. Research has demonstrated that about 2.1 hours per day is wasted on trivial intrusions. These time wasters destroy any attempt at effective time management if they are not identified and eliminated. Some interruptions, of course, are necessary and cannot be avoided, but many are just needless annoyances.

Identify and eliminate
High-payoff activities will vary from person to person, job to job. A low payoff for one individual may well be a high payoff for another. Either way, it’s vital you have a clear understanding of what your high payoffs are. That way, you can ensure that maximum time is devoted to these.

The trick is to identify your low payoffs and, once you’ve done so, consider ways to remove or eliminate them. Not everything has to be done by you! Create a list outlining low-payoff tasks in one column and high payoffs in the other. Doing this will provide clarity about where the majority of your time is being depleted, and allow you to recognise where your time should be invested.

Remember, good time management is about managing yourself. We all have the same amount of time, but what we do with it and how we use it will determine whether or not we are successful. Happy planning!

Top 10 management tips
1. Take time to plan your day either first thing in the morning or in the afternoon before you leave work. Create a to-do list or a system that you can refer to. Invest planning time to save working time.

2. Diarize and allocate specific times to attend to certain tasks. Be sure to set time limits and stick to them. Utilize your most productive time.

3. Consider the 4 D’s of time management:

Do it – Only if it takes less than two minutes to complete

Delegate it – Many low-payoff tasks can be delegated. Ensure the person you delegate to has the required competency or skills

Dump it – Trivial or meaningless information or emails that are not required

Diarize – Non-urgent tasks can be diarised to be done in the future

4. Keep track of time spent on low-payoff and high-payoff activities. Try to keep a schedule for the week.

5. Batch or ‘chunk’ similar work, such as processing or filing. This ensures you are in the headspace of doing repetitive work, and it promotes efficiency.

6. Avoid the urge to multitask. Research has demonstrated that multitasking slows you down and increases the likelihood of error.

7. Allocate contingency or buffer time in between tasks. This will allow for unexpected interruptions and distractions.

8. Plan for periods of relaxation, and try not to be a workaholic. Ensure you take your lunch break – resting improves focus and attention.

9. Don’t always be a ‘yes’ person. Saying yes to others will certainly increase your popularity; however, it will impact negatively on your personal productivity. Learn to say no nicely.

This is a slightly amended version of an article written by Nikki Heald, founder of Corptraining and co-author of Views On The Way To The Top. It has been shortened to make it suitable for web publishing.